Broom.



NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

FRANK n., LAY, oFARrneEvILLE, INDIANA.

eRooM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of ,Letters Patent No. 655,251, dated August7, 1900. Application ned september 7, 1899. serial Nt. 729.681. (Noman.)

T0 all whom it may concern.:

Be it known that I, FRANK R. LAY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Ridgeville, in the county of Randolph and State of Indiana,have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Brooms, of whichtheV following is a specification.

' My invention relates to the improvement of brooms; and the objects ofmy invention are to provide an improved construction of brooms, wherebythe handle may be readily attached to or detached from the broom head orbody, to so construct and arrange the parts thereof as to obviate anytendency toward the handle working loose from the broom, and at the sametime provide a connection for said handle and broom which will produce adesirable degree of iexibility, and to produce other improvements indetails of construction and arrangement of parts which will be morefully pointed out hereinafter. These objects I accomplish in the mannerillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is aperspective view of a broom and portion of a handle having myimprovements therein, said handle being shown in position forenteringthe socket of the broom; and Fig. 2 is a sectional View through thebroom-head,illustrating the mannerof retaining the handle therein.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

In carrying out my invention I form the upper end of the broom head orbody l with a vertical socket 2, within which is contained the body of acoiled spring 3. This spring is maintained in its position within thesocket 2, first, by extending the inner ead of the rod or wire formingthe spring laterally, as

indicated at 4, and causing said laterally-extending arm to engage thematerial 5 of which the broom is-formed,and,seccnd,by extending theouter end of the wire or rod which forms the springinward to a pointopposite one end of the spring and thence outward in a directionopposite the arm or extension 4, as indicated at 6. In constructingbrooms of this class I may 4inclo'se the head or upper end thereof witha shield or cap, of sheet metal or other suitable material, as indicatedat 7, the latter serving to bind the upper ends of the verse nails S,the inner ends' of which may be clenched against the opposite side ofthe shield or casing 7. As indicated at 9, I also preferably employ astaple which passes transversely through'the outer end of the cap orcasing 7 and the parallel arms of which pass through the broom materialon opposite sides of the spring and assist in holding the broom fibersin place. The wire coils forming the spring 3 serve, as will beunderstood from the drawings, to form threads, which will permit of thethreaded termination l0 of a broomhandle ll being screwed tightlytherein. In constructing this threaded portion lO it is provided with atapering termination or extension l2, which is Unthreaded and which, inthe manner indicated in Fig. 2 of the drawings, insertsitself when thehandle is screwed into connection with the broom-head into the materialforming said head. Although the coiled socket-spring is herein shown ofan equal diameter, it is obvious that the same may be made to tapertoward the inner end, if desired.

From the construction above described it will readily be seen thatsimple, reliable, and eective means are provided for producingadetachable connection of the handle and broom-head and that the coiledspring which provides the receiving-threads permits of employing threadson the handle extension of un usual depth, which will greatly aid informing a comparatively-rigid connection of the Aspring and handle. Itwill also be seen that by providing the extension 1l withcomparativelydeep tapering threads which will enter the spaces betweenthe wire coils in a wedgelike manner the coils of said spring will beexpanded and the spring thereby tightened orshortened in its connectionwith the broomhead. It will also be observed that by employing thecoiled spring as a medium of connection between the handle and thebroomhead a comparatively flexible or yielding connection between saidbroom head and handle is produced, which has been found to beexceedingly desirable in the use or manipulation of the broom.

IOO

' Patent, is"- Having now fully described my invention,- what I elain,andlldesire to secure byletters 1. In a broom, the combination with abroom head or body l having a soekeUan-da.- coiled spring retained insaid Socket, of a broom-handle havingga" threadfedorti'rifl" adapted tobe screwed into said coiled spring, said portion 10 being provided witha. tapering Unthreaded extension 12, substantially as specified. f

2. In a broom, thejooinbination With a;

broom head or bodfyl -hav ng a socket-therein;

'a coiled Vspring inserted in s aid socket-the inner-encTofthe -Wireforniihgfsaiideoifl extendinglaterally andengaging thematerial formingthe broom-head and the ouber'end of said coil-Wire being turnedinwardfand also 'engaged with said broom material, of a handle glav'ngfthreaded' 'portion adapted to be `screwed into said socket-coil,substantiallyas specified.

l FRANK R. LAY.

Mln presence of- C. C. SHEPHERD,

L. PHELPS.

